The Scent of Cedar
by Child of Loki
Summary: "He wanted to touch her skin, to feel her smooth, warm flesh beneath his fingertips..." Romantic Excerpts for those who'd like to read 'I've Got Your Back' through 'shippy colored glasses.' To be read between chapters 14 and 15.


**Author's Note: This fic will hold romantic inserts for **_**I've Got Your Back, **_**to give it a Nell/Callen shippy flavor, opposed to the primary fic being just of a friendly nature. I'm not sure it works in the context, but I couldn't resist trying. **

***To be read in Kiefer Sutherland voice* The following takes place between Chapters 14 and 15. (And I couldn't resist doing that, either.)**

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Callen woke with the warmth of a ray of sun caressing his face as it broke through the canopy above. And the warmth of a body snuggled up to his side, auburn waves of hair pooling on his chest as an equally warm cheek resided pressed over his heart. And the scent of cedar pleasantly pervasive.

There were a few pine needles tangled in the tousled red hair, and with sunlight pouring through the trees and dappling the placid features of her face, the young woman looked more wood nymph than anything. Nell Jones was such a sweet thing. But strong and clever, too (despite her apparent irrational fear of enclosed spaces.)

The light shifted, glimmering off skin as pale as cream. Before he quite knew what he was doing, his fingers were lightly tracing the shadow of a narrow branch that fell perfectly along the sharp edge of her bruised cheekbone. Her skin was soft and full, lightly dusted with freckles that had only added another layer to the palette of colors the forest was currently painting on the canvas of her _lovely_ face. It seemed as if he were still asleep, for his fingers floated dreamily down her cheek until they found the dimple at the corner of her mouth, and then traced the line of her lips seemingly of their own accord. The lack of adequate hydration during the previous day's hike had added an interesting rough texture to the otherwise petal-soft skin of her lips. His fingers moved back over the lines of her mouth once more, tracing the cupid's bow of her upper lip and hesitating at the fullest part of her lower. Callen had the strange urge to dip the tip of a finger into her mouth, just to seek its moist warmth, a contrast to the cool dry skin beneath the pads of his fingers.

Thankfully, Nell stirred, partially breaking the bizarre trance he'd succumbed to... man, did he need to get his head on straight.

Nell's eyelids fluttered and then she was blinking her eyes open and staring at him without shifting from her spot, half snuggled into his side, half on top of his chest. And he really should remove his hand from gently exploring her face.

But he didn't.

Her eyes were like the woods, a mixture of soft brown and verdant green, complex, deep, brimming with life, and a bit mysterious. He could never understand all of the specific details contained therein, but he could appreciate the whole. Even roughened, her lips felt appealingly soft beneath the third pass of his fingers. Her pupils dilated, blackness taking over the sage-flecked brown. Midnight in the forest.

He moved his hand to gently grasp her chin, raising her face as he shifted slightly to press his lips against hers. They proved to be that same mixture of coarse, chapped skin and velvet softness against his mouth as had teased the sensitive nerves of his fingertips. And they slid against his own lips as she began to kiss him, and pulled him into the embrace entirely. He lost himself in her kiss, tangling his fingers into the auburn hair beside the twigs and needles already nestled there, and breathing in that peculiar, pervasive cedar scent, that he had grown quite fond of in the past day.

There was a vibrancy in the young woman that was compelling, her delicate, cold fingers stroking the back of his neck as her tongue met his, and he rolled them so that she was beneath him, his hands finding their way down her sides, to caress her denim-clad hips and work their way back up, searching for a way beneath the flannel of her shirt. They rooted about her middle as if they sought some elusive truffle hidden in the depths of the forest. And he'd give so much more for what was buried in her clothes. He wanted to touch her skin, to feel her smooth, warm flesh beneath his finger tips, supple under his probing hand, trembling, or turning to gooseflesh. He _wanted_ it, as much as the way she was kissing him back fierce and eager was driving him mad.

He must be _mad_, completely insane! This was _Nell Jones_!

He quickly broke away from her, rolling onto his back to lay panting beside her. They lay there in the silence of the forest, which was never really that silent with birds and rodentia and etc. He could hear her struggle for air as he recovered his own breath. That had been... better not to think about it. He wasn't himself, hadn't quite gotten his head on straight. And she...

"I'm thirsty." Nell thankfully interrupted his uncomfortable train of thought, sitting up and brushing futilely at her even more tangled hair, which refused to do anything but be everywhere at once, and especially in her face. He rolled onto his stomach and then pushed himself up onto his knees, reaching for his pack nearby. He pulled out the canteen, which sloshed minimally. He dug out the small packet of water purifying tablets and handed both to her.

"Think you can find that stream about a hundred yards back?" he asked. "I'm going to see if I can figure out a bearing for a more direct route out of here."

Nell simply nodded and then walked off. Callen pretended not to notice how flushed her cheeks were, how her pink lips glistened in the early morning sun. He needed to focus. They needed to get out of the woods as soon as possible, and to a place where they could contact their people and let them know about the anarchists hiding in the woods... or fleeing it, as he feared may now be the case.

Given the description of the trail head where Nell had left her vehicle, a basic knowledge of the region in which they'd been secretly encamped for the past few months, and the functional compass, G Callen decided on a likely direction for them to try, figuring it would only be a matter of a few hours for them to reach the main road that the trail head was located upon. Where precisely on that road they would emerge in relation to the location of Nell's car was another matter. But that was unnecessary worry. He'd deal with that when they came to it. It could be as simple as walking a mile down the road.

Nell reappeared before he'd quite finished figuring. He could feel her eyes on him, studying him as he studied the compass. Finally, he announced his conclusion, which direction he thought they should go to best reach her vehicle. She closed her eyes a moment, and he couldn't help think that she was seeing a detailed map in her head. When she opened her eyes, she nodded her agreement and then held out the freshly acquired water to him.

When he reached for the proffered canteen, their hands touched. Before he'd left, this sort of contact had not even remotely been a big deal, or even worthy of notice. They worked together. They were even sort of friends. With human interaction occurring on a daily basis, touching was going to happen. But now Callen found himself hyper-aware of the young woman, her body, her soft skin. He fought down the urge to take her hand, kiss the palm, and pull her down into his lap for some more of what they'd had just a few minutes ago.

"Nell..." He tried to find the words as she released the canteen into his grasp. But his brain was not in peak operating condition.

"It's okay," she said, locking her wide hazel eyes on him. How could eyes so big and open keep the young woman's emotions so well hidden? "We were both exhausted and still coming off from an insane adrenaline high."

A sly smile curved her lips. "And apparently you haven't even seen a woman for quite a while..."

He chuckled, despite his concern that he'd crossed a line with the young woman, an invasion she could never forgive.

"Was I that rusty?" he asked, unable to help himself. She blushed and looked away. And it was beyond fetching on her.

"No." Her voice was a soft whisper. "Not that I could tell."

Her expression swiftly changed from... _wistful_? to normal self-assured Nell Jones buoyancy, and she offered him a hand up with a smile. He took it, standing so close to her that his senses were once more flooded with the heady fragrance that clung to the young woman. And even as he packed up their meager supplies and they walked off into the musky woods, he found himself distracted by the scent of cedar.

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**A/N: There's probably only going to be one (or two) more insert/missing chapter(s), to take place in Part Two. **


End file.
